DEAR ABBY: I've been single for more than a year and playing the field, having casual relationships, but never anything I was too invested in. That changed recently when I met someone I'll call "Eve." We have hit it off spectacularly and are very much into each other.
The only issue is she has a kid. I'm only 23, and I'm not in a position to be any kind of father figure. That being said, I would still love to be with Eve and occasionally help out with her little one, but I don't know how to open up and tell her directly that I'm not prepared for the pressures of being a "dad" to a newborn. How do I express this to her? -- NO WHITE KNIGHT IN KNOXVILLE
DEAR NO WHITE KNIGHT: "Daddyhood" isn't a skill that every man is born with. Some men are naturals at it; others learn gradually through experience. Tell Eve that you care about her, but that at 23 you are not in a position to be a dad to her baby. In time, things may change -- gradually -- but not right now. It may or may not cause the end of the relationship. Her first responsibility must be to her child, and a romance right out of the delivery room is too soon, "white knight" or no white knight.